ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #89 | Page 146

ART Habens
Irena Romendik
I try to be true to what I see and
experience, and to avoid intrusions of
learned stereotypes into my drawings.
When I draw human body, it’s a particular
formation of breathing flesh and bones
soaked in lite and saturated with life force.
To non-artists, drawing is often understood
as replicating or representing what is seen
-- photorealistically capturing shape and
contour, composition, outlines, and
shadows in space. While mastering various
representation techniques may be part of
skill-building, drawing is a "flexible
instrument," a developmental tool, a way of
mapping thinking that can be meandering,
improvisational, or highly structured. We
often find that mechanical photographs of
us fade in comparison with child drawing in
capturing likeness. For me drawing is a
process, and not a thing or an entity. When
I draw dance, I’m dancing with it -- spinning,
falling, jumping, flying, fast and slow, slow
and fast -- just like the song in recent
William Kentridge’s Refuse the Hour, so
true.
Very early in my practice, I was influenced
by Ukrainian Luchism (literary, “sun-rays-
ism”), and Russian Formalism of the early
Soviet era, naive icons of forgotten
Ukrainian villages with their penetrating
eyes, Velasquez of course, Egon Shiele,
beautiful colors of Rajasthan textiles, the
language of lace, and the cadence of
Japanese Rimpa paintings. Sumi tradition
taught me to appreciate colors in
monochromatic renderings. Even though it
might not seem as a direct influence, I
Special Issue
Unconscious Syntax of unnerving Smiles
relate to works of David Hockney, William
Kentridge, and Gerhard Righter. I feel like
Iannis Xenakis’s music had similar influence
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